1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealing jig and a sealing method for a cylinder block plating apparatus, which is usable for sealing an end of an inner peripheral surface, i.e., cylinder bore, of each cylinder in a cylinder block of an engine of a vehicle, for example, when the cylinder bores are preplated or plated by circulating a process liquid.
2. Related Art
Cylinder block plating apparatus are conventionally proposed which plate cylinder bores by circulating a process liquid with cylinder bores of cylinders in a cylinder block sealed at both ends (on the side of a crankcase and on the side of a cylinder head).
Such conventional apparatus includes an apparatus such as disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-53798), and in this conventional apparatus, a sealing member capable of being expanded and deformed into the cylinders from the crankcase side and the crankcase-side end of each cylinder bore is sealed with the sealing member.
However, in cylinder blocks of some multi-cylinder engines, in order to reduce pumping losses and improve engine power, communication holes are formed at an end of the cylinder bore of each cylinder. When plating process is performed to the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder bores in the cylinder block having such communication holes by using a process liquid as described above, it is necessary to take measures to prevent the process liquid from leaking out of the cylinders through the communication holes as well as to prevent leakage from one end of each of the cylinder bores. Further, it is to be noted that the term “cylinder bore” may be equivalently described hereunder to “inner peripheral surface of the cylinder”.